Israel's decision to take down the metal detectors at the entrances to the Temple Mount is being portrayed by Fatah as a decision made out of fear.

The cartoon above, which shows Palestinians at the Temple Mount by the Dome of the Rock cheering in victory as metal detectors run away from them in fear, was posted by Fatah on Facebook with the following text:

"The Palestinian people, the nation of giants"

[Official Fatah Facebook page, July 25, 2017]

The cartoon refers to Israel's decision to dismantle the metal detectors and security cameras at the entrances to the Temple Mount that it had placed there following a terror attack at the site on July 14, 2017, in which 2 Israelis were murdered. Several events over the last two weeks seem to have led to this.

Another cartoon likewise shows Palestinians celebrating together with the Muslim and Christian holy sites, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, downcast and disheveled, walks away, carrying a metal detector on his back and with a security camera and boot hanging around his neck:

Text on cartoon: "Victory is better than sleep" - apparently meant to encourage Palestinians to celebrate their "victory" into the night.

[Official Fatah Facebook page, July 27, 2017]

Israel's decision followed two weeks of Palestinian protests and violent rioting in Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank, while PA and Fatah leaders endorsed the riots, and called on Palestinians to "rage" and come to the "defense" of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Then on July 21, 2017, a Palestinian terrorist infiltrated the Jewish town of Halamish near Ramallah and stabbed and murdered 3 Israelis in their home. Another terrorist injured 1 in a stabbing attack in Petah Tikva on July 24, 2017.

On July 23, 2017, an Israeli security guard from the Israeli embassy in Jordan killed two Jordanians after one of them stabbed him. A safe return to Israel for the security guard and the rest of the embassy staff had to be negotiated between the Israeli and Jordanian governments.

It has been speculated that Israel's dismantling of the metal detectors on the Temple Mount was part of a deal with the Jordanians, whose Waqf administers the Temple Mount.

However, Fatah's cartoon with the scared metal detectors suggests Israel gave in to terror.

In 2008, PMW was asked to prepare a report for the Shamgar Committee - a committee charged with establishing principles for the negotiations of the release of hostages. PMW's report Ramifications of Releasing Palestinian Prisoners on Palestinian Leadership and Society (Hebrew) documented that the PA leadership and society viewed Israel's release of Lebanese terrorist murderer Samir Kuntar, four other Hezbollah terrorists and the bodies of 199 Palestinian and Lebanese militants in exchange for the bodies of kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev as a sign of weakness, and proof that "Israel only understands the language of power."